Prison fight — not high blood pressure — sent Bernie Madoff to the hospital

It's official: Bernie Madoff did not break his nose, fracture his ribs and get cuts and bruises on his face by falling out of bed in his prison cell back in December. Turns out Mr. Madoff was brutalized by a fellow inmate after all, in an altercation that led to his hospitalization shortly before Christmas. The Wall Street Journal this morning, citing three people familiar with Mr. Madoff's stint in a North Carolina hospital, confirmed that Mr. Madoff's injuries were the result of a fight with a “beefy” inmate who was in prison on drug charges. (Sound familiar? Read this Dec. 24, 2009 InvestmentNews report.) In December, Mr. Madoff's attorney said that the imprisoned Ponzi schemer was hospitalized because of high blood pressure. Other reports at the time suggested that Mr. Madoff fell out of bed and injured himself. For Mr. Madoff, who is currently serving a 150-year sentence, this is at least the second fight that he's been involved in since his sentence began last year. Apparently, the fight record for the former investment manager now stands at 1-1-0.